Taliban Release First Budget Since Afghan Takeover
NDTV
International assistance represented 40 percent of Afghanistan's GDP and made up 80 percent of its budget when the former US-backed government was in control.
The Taliban said Thursday they have approved their first budget for Afghanistan since the hardline Islamists returned to power in August, with no mention of foreign aid.
International assistance represented 40 percent of Afghanistan's GDP and made up 80 percent of its budget when the former US-backed government was in control.
When it crumbled in August and the Taliban took command, Western powers froze billions of dollars in aid and assets in what the United Nations described as an "unprecedented fiscal shock".
"For the first time in the last two decades, we made a budget that is not dependent on foreign aid and that is a very big achievement for us," said Taliban finance ministry spokesman Ahmad Wali Haqmal.